Welcome To My Casa Bella

My Casa Bella- means-my beautiful home- but it can mean so many other things. How you make your home a home. The sounds of children or pets playing. The aroma of scones in the oven or a lilac candle burning. The flowers blooming in your garden. The home grown vegetables ready to be picked. Grandma's quilt at the foot of the bed. A fire to curl up to with a good book. Or just a family spending time together with love, laughter and a good time.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Today is a wonderful day for me. It is our 15th wedding anniversary!!! I can't believe its been 15 years. Where has the time gone? I still remember getting ready. All the wedding plans, the errands, the decisions, frustrations, laughs and finally the big day. A day with family and close friends who are there to support you on that very special occasion. That day was a blurr to me. So much going on and those who know me well, know that I do not like to be center of attention and well, you are. But it was a wonderful day. Everything went smoothly. The weather was gorgeous. A sunny, Fall day. It could of not been more beautiful. Then we left the next morning for Jamaica. Getting away from everything and enjoying our new life together. Now, its been 15 years. Good times and hard times. But we've grown so much together and I love him more than ever. Happy Anniversary, Babe. I look forward to many more.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Yesterday, my hubby was on his way home to pick me up so we can meet our friends for dinner who were treating us for our Anniversary. But when he came home I saw a package in his arms. Now we needed to leave but I couldn't do that without finding out first what that was. I don't remember ordering anything, I hope not since I'm broke....lol. But he gave me the package, so it was for me. When I turned it over, it was from http://myfirstbambina.blogspot.com My dear friend, Monika. Look at the goodies she sent me. (Click on the images to enlarge if you'd like)

She included the Tea Time magazine, since she knows how much I love tea and scones.

Then she added some beautiful stationery. All tea related. How thoughtful! But too pretty to use...:)

Even the fabrics had a tea theme to them, and the RIBBON as well!! I never saw this ribbon before and I love it.

And she knows my love for my kitty's and Paris. Isn't it pretty? Even the ribbon is ruffly and beautiful. She put so much thought into this gift. It was so much fun opening it up as well. The way she wrapped everything up, it seemed never-ending. Even my husband was enjoying watching me take the gift apart and unwrapping the beautiful items enclosed. Monika, thank you from the bottom of my heart. What a sweet surprise.

Well, we made it to the restaurant on time and had a wonderful dinner with our friends.

(PS- Read the post below and give me your opinion on "should I add the rose or not?" )

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Hello everyone. Hope your weekend was nice and beautiful as it was here on the East Coast. They've been talking about a bad winter for us here, and so far we've had quite a Fall season. Its actually felt like Fall for the first time in many years. But today and the rest of the week its going to be in the upper 50's and beautiful. I think we better enjoy it while we can especially IF we're getting the nasty winter they're telling us to prepare for. My kitty's decided it was time to chill out, and that they did. Aren't they cute??? In the meantime, I sewed yesterday. I finally used my beautiful plaid fabric. What did I do with it?

Well, in the picture above I'm putting it together. I'm sewing on interfacing to give it some body.

Oh, what's this???? I'm sewing together the top piece. Can you tell yet what it is?

Now what in the world are those pieces for?

Ta-Da!!! My very own purse! I even lined up the plaid lines together, WHEW! I was hoping that was going to work. I LOVE it! It'll be my winter bag, although at the fabric store I saw some other gorgeous fabrics, so I may need to make a brown bag yet. But I am happy with this one. My friend Valerie says I'm ready for Scotland. I am ready to go!!! Let's go on a trip!!!

I bought this rose to add to the bag, but I'm not sure if I should, What do you think? Should I or not? If I do where should I put it? Any ideas? Any?

Then on Friday I wasn't feeling too well, but I knew if I did something it would help, and baking or sewing always does, but I need to get myself motivated to do so, but once I do then I can't stop. So I decided to bake, and I attempted to bake a Gluten Free Pumpkin-Coconut Pie. Homemade crust and all. Now I never made a homemade gluten-free crust and I've never had one either, but I was ready for the challenge. If you've never worked with gluten free products, they tend to fall apart easily. So you HAVE to be patient. And I really didn't feel like I would that day, but I tried it anyway. So, I used my food processor and made the crust and the directions warn you that the crust will fall apart, but its easy to put together. So, here I go. As you can see the crust was very crumbly, but when you squeezed it together it bonded well.

So there it is, isn't it beautiful?

Now, time to toast the coconut and place it on the bottom of the crust before pouring in the batter. I love toasted coconut. I threw in extra for snacking....

The batter can be dairy free as well and egg free if you'd like. I used butter in the crust so its not dairy free. But the batter is, it uses coconut milk and that gave it a good flavor.

Poured the batter into the crust, and placed it on a cookie sheet.

There it is, all done. Isn't it pretty, but does it taste as good as it looks? Well, my hubby and a friend of ours were going to be my guinea pigs. I didn't tell them it was gluten-free. Did we like it?

Well, as you can see, we ate quite a bit of it. It was DELICIOUS and even better the next day. My husband loved it and told me to make it again. So this one is a keeper. In fact, I'm hiding a small piece in the fridge right now....mmmmm!!
I have attached the recipe above if you'd like to make it. Enjoy it, and let me know how it turns out!!! Pumpkin Coconut Pie

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Hello everyone, hope you are all doing well. Now that Fall is quickly going by and soon WINTER(bad word) is coming. I don't mind winter, if only it weren't so cold...BRRRRR!!! I've had a very busy past couple of weeks and I realized I'm way overdue with my blog. The picture to the left is my sweet Latte sitting in my niece's toy carriage. I was shocked she let me put her in there, and she even posed for me too....isn't she cute??!!

Today I did laundry and it definitely needed to be done. Running out of some things....anyway, I put a load into the dryer while another load was washing, then I left for work, came back, threw in a load to dry and guess what happened? My dryer won't start.....AAHHHH when things couldn't get worse, this happens. And of all things, and appliance. Something not cheap fix let alone replace. And I have one of those stackable one piece units which I just found out by Internet surfing this product that it is not easy or cheap to fix. We bought this unit several years ago after we added a guest bath and we had to shrink our laundry room so we needed a space saving unit plus this one was on sale. Now I know why. So I'll need to call someone to give us an estimate, to see if its worth fixing. In the meantime I searched for another stackable unit, but separate units this time. Looks like nothing less than $950.00 for both. WOWZER!! How much can I get for my kidney??HMMMM!!!! Aggravations.

In the meantime, I've got to get back to my sewing. I have window treatments to do for our bedroom, my sewing/craft room, and I'm still working on the Plaid fabric I posted last. Lots and lots of projects. But I wanted to say hi! to all my fellow bloggers out there. Anyone have any special projects they're trying to do? Oh, and I have some aprons to make as well. A couple of them will be gifts and they're overdue as well. More sewing to add to my list. How about you? What have you got going on? Crafts, sewing, crocheting, or knitting, etc.....??

Monday, November 2, 2009

Yup!! Plaid is back and boy am I EXCITED!!! I LOVE it, I always have but for some reason it comes and goes in fashion. Yet in England, Scotland and Ireland its everywhere. When we visited London, I saw it in the shops, but not here. No sirree, its hard to find. So when I received my latest Country Living magazine and opened it up to the pages and saw PLAID, I savored every picture, and then I went out and bought fabric:

Guess what I'll be making with the fabric above.....any guesses???

Don't you just LOVE that plaid Jacket above? I'm in love, I hear music in the background......The belt just finishes it off. How delicious!!

And that red plaid overcoat........GORGEOUS!! I'll take one please..

And well, I had to put this picture in, someone sewing a piece of beautiful plaid fabric into something, well, beautiful, obviously.

So, there it is, I LOVE plaid in case you didn't figure that out. And what am I making with my fabric, with the pretty black rose? You'll have to wait and see....I already cut the fabric this evening, I'm still working on it though. You'll have to wait, sorry......

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About Me

I am orginally a NYC girl, born and raised then I met my honey, and we got married and moved to southern PA where he is from. Now we live in Maryland, in a city/country, a little bit of both worlds. We have a humble home with our three kitties. I love to sew which you will see pictures of my latest projects. I make handbags,aprons, home decor and love playing with paper and rubber stamps. I enjoy gardening,baking and cooking. My family and friends are extremely important to me. I hope you enjoy my blog and I can make you smile. Please sign in and leave me a comment, that also makes me smile. Thank you for visiting me.

Encouraging Words

Isaiah 41:10,13 "Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not gaze about, for I am your God. I will fortify you. I will really help you. I will really keep fast hold of you with my right hand of righteousness....For I, Jehovah your God, am grasping your right hand, the One saying to you 'Do not be afraid. I myself will help you.'